A Week in the Life

When we first moved here, being unemployed was depressing and boring. But in 2012, my social has really picked up steam, and we joke a lot now that I could never find the time to have a job (not that I’m not still looking…)

This was a particularly good week in the Life of a Woman of Leisure, even with my Woman of Leisure Walking Tour (see post below) cancelled for half-term.

Sunday: I went to yoga, then went to John Lewis and bought a new lamp, rug, and wastepaper bin. I decided that, rather than pick something up later, it would be a good idea to bring all three home at once. On my bike. In the snow. For a mile and a half. I looked like an idiot, and all my new stuff turned out to be pretty heavy, so by the time I made it home I was as sweaty from carrying my new housewares as from the yoga class. Then Ian and I bought a new carpet for the living room, and I went to circus school. You know, just your average Sunday.

Monday: I interned/volunteered with Shape East, a planning organization in Cambridge. I really like the people who work there (some of whom have started reading this blog, which is the fastest way to my heart these days) and I’ve finished the project where I had to cold call people and take a survey, which was useful but not super fun. Then I went to yoga.

Tuesday: Yoga in the morning. Then new friend Robert and I attempted to make macarons. He’s done it successfully several times before, but these were a pretty sad little fail. Still, afternoon well spent. In the evening, Ian and I met a friend for High Table at King’s College. Despite having eaten at Christchurch in Oxford, where the dining hall scenes of Harry Potter were filmed, this is probably the closest I’ll ever get to eating at Hogwarts. With the professors. I sat next to a retired lawyer, now a photographer, who was very earnest about the need to help lawyers (who typically retire in their 50s here) find a second career.

Wednesday: A friend and I went to Letchworth, one of Ebenezer Howard’s two garden cities. It was a nerd pilgrimage, but I was ultimately kind of disappointed. Radburn, in New Jersey, made for a much better nerd pilgrimage. Still, I’d been wanting to go. In the evening, I went rock climbing and then to the Emmanuel College Bar with climbing compatriots for Wednesday funk night.

We also saw the UK's first roundabout. Woot!

Thursday: I’m working on a design competition in Shanghai with an architect at Wolfson College, so after a morning spent puttering around the house, I met up with her for a work session followed by a zumba class. Later in the evening I ended up at a pub with Ian and a friend playing a game called “War on Terror,” which would be more fun if we fully understood the rules, but I plan to play again anyway.

Lauren made that face on purpose.

Friday: I’m meeting a friend for lunch before hopping a 15:15 train to Brussels for a weekend of eating and sightseeing with the hubs, followed by a one-night stay in Ghent.

We’ve committed to at least two years. Currently I am not working. I’m not sure if that will change. I’ve been working on a novel for years, and we figured this would be the best time for me to finish the darn thing.

Who keeps track of this ‘[nation]’s first roundabout’ business? Numerous publications have claimed that the USA’s first roundabout was built in Nevada in 1990, but I’m reasonably certain that the roundabouts on my street in Kentucky are decades older, but I don’t know who to yell at, aside from individual journalists who don’t know their arse from their elbow, let alone the distinction between fact-checking and repeating someone else’s BS.